Park strife:
When a loved one is having treatment in a hospital bed, the last thing anybody wants to have to remember is to feed a parking meter. Northampton Chronicle and Echo
Tuesday, 10 July 2012
Warning to keep out of the water after toxic algae found in Northampton
Warning to keep out of the water after toxic algae found in Northampton:
Members of the public have been warned by the Environment Agency to keep out of the water at The Washlands, Northampton following an outbreak of toxic algae.Northampton Chronicle and Echo
Members of the public have been warned by the Environment Agency to keep out of the water at The Washlands, Northampton following an outbreak of toxic algae.Northampton Chronicle and Echo
Spending on frontline services rose by £3.4bn in 2011/12
Spending on frontline services rose by £3.4bn in 2011/12:
Spending on frontline NHS services has increased by £3.4 billion (or 3.5%) in cash terms compared to last year. This means more money for running hospitals, hiring doctors, and treating patients. NHS Networks
Spending on frontline NHS services has increased by £3.4 billion (or 3.5%) in cash terms compared to last year. This means more money for running hospitals, hiring doctors, and treating patients. NHS Networks
Informatics: the future – An organisational summary
Informatics: the future – An organisational summary:
‘Informatics: The future – An organisational summary’ describes the role and functions of key organisations in relation to informatics in the future. This summary incorporates the agreement for the establishment of a new Health and Social Care Information Centre to collect, analyse and present data and to deliver key national systems and services. Download Informatics: The future – An organisational summary Department of Health
‘Informatics: The future – An organisational summary’ describes the role and functions of key organisations in relation to informatics in the future. This summary incorporates the agreement for the establishment of a new Health and Social Care Information Centre to collect, analyse and present data and to deliver key national systems and services. Download Informatics: The future – An organisational summary Department of Health
Doctors 'must report child abuse'
Doctors 'must report child abuse': Doctors should not fear reporting suspicions about child abuse, the regulator of the profession says. BBC News
NHS Informatics to be pulled in three
NHS Informatics to be pulled in three: Responsibility for NHS IT at a national level is to be split three ways between the Department of Health, the NHS Commissioning Board, and the Health and Social Care Information Centre. E-Health Insider
Loneliness toolkit for health and wellbeing boards
Loneliness toolkit for health and wellbeing boards:
This digital toolkit aims to help assess the needs and set out strategic methods of tackling loneliness. This digital toolkit enables health and wellbeing boards to better understand, identify and commission interventions for the issue of loneliness in older age. It explains how to best include assessments of loneliness prevalence and indicators in joint strategic needs assessments and joint health and wellbeing strategies. It covers key research on the detrimental impact of loneliness on our health and offers a financial case for taking preventative action.
This digital toolkit aims to help assess the needs and set out strategic methods of tackling loneliness. This digital toolkit enables health and wellbeing boards to better understand, identify and commission interventions for the issue of loneliness in older age. It explains how to best include assessments of loneliness prevalence and indicators in joint strategic needs assessments and joint health and wellbeing strategies. It covers key research on the detrimental impact of loneliness on our health and offers a financial case for taking preventative action.
Health visitor numbers increasing
Health visitor numbers increasing:
The Department of Health has confirmed that it is "on track" to fulfil its target of increasing the number of health visitors by another 4,200 by April 2015.The DH website said over 6,000 health visitors would be trained by 2015 and added: "Increasing health visitor numbers should allow local teams to improve public health outcomes and provide personalised care, giving health visitors more time to provide... Healthcare Today
The Department of Health has confirmed that it is "on track" to fulfil its target of increasing the number of health visitors by another 4,200 by April 2015.The DH website said over 6,000 health visitors would be trained by 2015 and added: "Increasing health visitor numbers should allow local teams to improve public health outcomes and provide personalised care, giving health visitors more time to provide... Healthcare Today
Lansley 'was shut out of NHS reform meetings' - The Independent
Lansley 'was shut out of NHS reform meetings' - The Independent:
Lansley 'was shut out of NHS reform meetings' The Independent Andrew Lansley was excluded from key meetings at which the Government's highly controversial plans to reform the NHS were first drawn up, a new book serialised in The Independent reveals today. and more » |
Hundreds die from strokes at weekends because of poorer NHS care: study
Hundreds die from strokes at weekends because of poorer NHS care: study: Hundreds die unnecessarily every year because they suffer a stroke at weekend when NHS care is poorer.
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily TelegraphMonday, 9 July 2012
Racist nurse gave council hate crime talk to council staff
Racist nurse gave council hate crime talk to council staff:
A racist nurse who worked for Northamptonshire’s NHS mental health trust later gave a talk on race-hate to 300 staff in her council job, the local authority has admitted. Northampton Chornicle and Echo
A racist nurse who worked for Northamptonshire’s NHS mental health trust later gave a talk on race-hate to 300 staff in her council job, the local authority has admitted. Northampton Chornicle and Echo
NHS IT 'does have benefits'
NHS IT 'does have benefits': Why the NHS does need a joined-up computer system BBC News
GPs must educate patients to cut demand on NHS, ministers say
GPs must educate patients to cut demand on NHS, ministers say: GPs must play 'a key role' in educating patients about self-treatment to help manage demand on the NHS, ministers have said. GP Online
Total PFI bill ''will be around £301bn''
Total PFI bill ''will be around £301bn'': By 2029/30 the annual PFI spending for the NHS is expected to be £2.71bn, new Treasury figures show Public Service
10 years' budget pain for the NHS
10 years' budget pain for the NHS:
A report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies has warned that the NHS in England could face a decade of austerity.
In analysis of the long-term financial future of the health service, funded by the Nuffield Trust, the IFS say the NHS should be prepared to face even tougher times ahead than it has already experienced.
Within that, it said a serious consideration should be whether all services continue to... Healthcare Today
Full report here
A report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies has warned that the NHS in England could face a decade of austerity.
In analysis of the long-term financial future of the health service, funded by the Nuffield Trust, the IFS say the NHS should be prepared to face even tougher times ahead than it has already experienced.
Within that, it said a serious consideration should be whether all services continue to... Healthcare Today
Full report here
David Cameron accused of hypocrisy over £1.4bn 'raid' on NHS funds
David Cameron accused of hypocrisy over £1.4bn 'raid' on NHS funds:
Labour condemns PM as 'NHS conman' after official figures reveal Treasury took back unspent money earmarked for health
David Cameron has been accused of hypocrisy over the NHS after official figures revealed that the Treasury has taken back £1.4bn of money earmarked for health spending which was not spent by the Department of Health.
Labour condemned the move as a "raid" on NHS funding by George Osborne, while unions representing doctors and nurses and the country's leading health thinktank said patients would lose out as a result.
The Treasury have confirmed that £1.4bn of £1.7bn not spent by the department on the NHS in England in 2011-12 had come back to it. Whitehall sources said it would now be used to help fund the freeze in council tax, major infrastructure projects and other key areas of public spending not related to health.
Most of the £1.7bn underspend was the result of the NHS employing fewer managers and ministers scaling back on "wasteful" IT projects and administration costs, a DH spokesman said. "The reason why there's an underspend is because of efficiency [savings]," he added.
"The government promised that all efficiency savings would be reinvested in the NHS, but Friday's figures confirm George Osborne's £1bn raid on its budget to pay for tax cuts for millionaires," said Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary. "People will today see David Cameron for the NHS conman he is: repeatedly cutting the budget on the quiet while 4,000 nursing posts are axed and patients pay the price."
Prof John Appleby, chief economist at the King's Fund health thinktank, said the DH should not have allowed the underspend to be taken. "This money shouldn't have been given back by Andrew Lansley. It could have been spent on health or social care, where we know we need to spend more money because needs are rising," he said. "This is over a billion pounds that was agreed by parliament to be spent on healthcare, which now won't be, so it's very surprising that ministers have agreed to do this given we know that there are extra demands on the NHS, and this money could have been used to improve people's health."
The British Medical Association, the doctors' union, said that any savings made in the NHS should go into improving patient care, not to the Treasury. "It is unclear how these efficiency savings were made and we need to see more detail. If it is the case that significant efficiency savings have been achieved, these resources should be reinvested in patient care," said a BMA spokeswoman.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said the generation of a £1.7bn surplus at the same time as many hospital trusts were cutting staff to save money was "a matter of great concern. Any Treasury clawback will only serve to take resources still further from the frontline. Money saved would be far better invested in providing patient care and keeping people fit and healthy. Patients will rightly question why money is diverted elsewhere at a time when demand is rising and resources are scarce."
But Whitehall sources countered that the £1.4bn clawback was less than the amount of DH underspend they have taken back in recent years, which has averaged £2bn and reached £2.9bn in 2007-08.
Labour also seized on a separate DH admission that actual spending by the NHS in England last year was slightly less than the year before, bucking a longstanding year-on-year upward trend. According to Treasury figures the, service spent £104.24bn in 2011-12, which was £26m – or 0.02% – less than 2010-11. The fall occurred despite the coalition's pledge to increase the NHS budget by 0.1% a year every year until 2015. The Guardian
David Cameron has been accused of hypocrisy over the NHS after official figures revealed that the Treasury has taken back £1.4bn of money earmarked for health spending which was not spent by the Department of Health.
Labour condemned the move as a "raid" on NHS funding by George Osborne, while unions representing doctors and nurses and the country's leading health thinktank said patients would lose out as a result.
The Treasury have confirmed that £1.4bn of £1.7bn not spent by the department on the NHS in England in 2011-12 had come back to it. Whitehall sources said it would now be used to help fund the freeze in council tax, major infrastructure projects and other key areas of public spending not related to health.
Most of the £1.7bn underspend was the result of the NHS employing fewer managers and ministers scaling back on "wasteful" IT projects and administration costs, a DH spokesman said. "The reason why there's an underspend is because of efficiency [savings]," he added.
"The government promised that all efficiency savings would be reinvested in the NHS, but Friday's figures confirm George Osborne's £1bn raid on its budget to pay for tax cuts for millionaires," said Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary. "People will today see David Cameron for the NHS conman he is: repeatedly cutting the budget on the quiet while 4,000 nursing posts are axed and patients pay the price."
Prof John Appleby, chief economist at the King's Fund health thinktank, said the DH should not have allowed the underspend to be taken. "This money shouldn't have been given back by Andrew Lansley. It could have been spent on health or social care, where we know we need to spend more money because needs are rising," he said. "This is over a billion pounds that was agreed by parliament to be spent on healthcare, which now won't be, so it's very surprising that ministers have agreed to do this given we know that there are extra demands on the NHS, and this money could have been used to improve people's health."
The British Medical Association, the doctors' union, said that any savings made in the NHS should go into improving patient care, not to the Treasury. "It is unclear how these efficiency savings were made and we need to see more detail. If it is the case that significant efficiency savings have been achieved, these resources should be reinvested in patient care," said a BMA spokeswoman.
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said the generation of a £1.7bn surplus at the same time as many hospital trusts were cutting staff to save money was "a matter of great concern. Any Treasury clawback will only serve to take resources still further from the frontline. Money saved would be far better invested in providing patient care and keeping people fit and healthy. Patients will rightly question why money is diverted elsewhere at a time when demand is rising and resources are scarce."
But Whitehall sources countered that the £1.4bn clawback was less than the amount of DH underspend they have taken back in recent years, which has averaged £2bn and reached £2.9bn in 2007-08.
Labour also seized on a separate DH admission that actual spending by the NHS in England last year was slightly less than the year before, bucking a longstanding year-on-year upward trend. According to Treasury figures the, service spent £104.24bn in 2011-12, which was £26m – or 0.02% – less than 2010-11. The fall occurred despite the coalition's pledge to increase the NHS budget by 0.1% a year every year until 2015. The Guardian
Warning over keyhole surgery safety in NHS cash squeeze
Warning over keyhole surgery safety in NHS cash squeeze: Surgeons are being forced to carry out operations using outdated equipment because of a squeeze on NHS budgets in the economic downturn, it is claimed today.
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
Councils' lack of cash hits 7,000 elderly and disabled
Councils' lack of cash hits 7,000 elderly and disabled:
More than 7,000 disabled and elderly people have lost some or all of their state-funded support, after cash-strapped councils changed their rules on who qualifies for social care. The Independent
More than 7,000 disabled and elderly people have lost some or all of their state-funded support, after cash-strapped councils changed their rules on who qualifies for social care. The Independent
Care pathway used to 'cut costs' claim doctors
Care pathway used to 'cut costs' claim doctors:
Hospitals may be withholding food and drink from elderly patients so they die quicker to cut costs and save on bad spaces, leading doctors have warned.The Independent
Hospitals may be withholding food and drink from elderly patients so they die quicker to cut costs and save on bad spaces, leading doctors have warned.The Independent
Increase in whooping cough cases continues
Increase in whooping cough cases continues: The number of confirmed cases of pertussis in England and Wales reported to the Health Protection Agency (HPA) continues to rise, with 1,781 cases reported to the end of May 2012, compared to a total of 1,118cases across the whole of 2011. Health Protection Agency
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